Children who experience adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) face an increased risk for social-emotional, physical and mental health issues. ACEs include abuse, neglect, poverty and other traumatic experiences encountered before the age of eighteen. This module promotes the awareness and understanding of trauma in young children and families and discusses the role of early care and education professionals in nurturing resilience in the children and families in their care who experience ACEs. (2 hours)
To be antiracist is to take action against racism. Early childhood education (ECE) programs that do antiracist work look closely at how racism and inequity impact children, families, and educators and use antiracism as a lens to root out, name, and address racial biases. As programs shift their culture toward antiracism, competencies can guide best practices. This course introduces antiracism and two competencies for culturally responsive teaching—knowing your cultural lens and culturally responsive communication. (2 hours)
This lesson examines the benefits of developing community partnerships to start and maintain quality out-of-school time programs. This lesson provides ideas and strategies to assist providers in identifying and building supportive community partnerships that allow programs to maximize resources that can benefit children, families, the program and the community. (2 hours)
Offering a curriculum in career preparation in OST programs can both engage youth and provide an important service to children, families, and industries. In this module professionals will learn how to meet this need of school-age youth in age-appropriate ways—including building awareness, offering opportunities, and formal career preparation programs. Professionals will learn how to find career resources, plan lessons, communicate with families, and partner with community organizations. (3 hours)
Los programas de tiempo fuera de la escuela refuerzan el aprendizaje de STEM mediante el desarrollo y la profundización de las relaciones con los socios de la comunidad. Las industrias ricas en STEM y las organizaciones académicas y comunitarias interesadas en STEM aportan su experiencia y creatividad a los esfuerzos de ciencia, tecnología, ingeniería y matemáticas para los estudiantes en edad escolar. Aprenda cómo ir más allá de simplemente completar un proyecto de colaboración para construir una relación con los interesados. Revise los programas modelo, el asesoramiento de los practicantes, las guías de planificación y haga una actividad sencilla de STEM. (2 hours)
Out-of-school time programs strengthen STEM learning by developing and deepening relationships with community partners. STEM-rich industries, interested academic and community-based STEM organizations bring expertise and creativity to school-age science, technology, engineering, and math efforts. Learn how to go beyond simply completing a joint project to building a relationship with stakeholders. Review model programs, practitioner advice, planning guides and a simple STEM activity. (2 hours)
Community-based services provide families and children with needed resources and information. Early care and education (ECE) professionals who learn about their community’s resources, and connect families with these resources, provide an important bridge to services. Family engagement is foundational to supporting this process. ECE professionals who build relationships with families are better able to communicate with, collaborate with, and provide information to families. (2 hours)
This lesson focuses on involving senior adults in child care and education programs. Discover the benefits to the children, senior adults, your program, and you when seniors are involved. (2 hours)
Los programas de cuidado infantil familiar están en una posición única para apoyar las prácticas de participación familiar de calidad que contribuyen a resultados positivos para los niños y las familias. (2 horas)
Effective early childhood education (ECE) professionals understand and embrace diversity—cultural, linguistic, and ability diversity (CLAD). They support the unique and individualized values, strengths, and potential of each child and family. This module explores how to gather insights and effective strategies grounded in research to support culturally responsive teaching practices as well as fair and equitable opportunities that lead to positive outcomes for all children. (3 hours)
Culture influences every aspect of a child’s development and learning. As classrooms and society become more culturally diverse, there is a need for early educators to embrace cultural understanding – to be culturally aware, culturally sensitive, culturally responsive, and culturally competent. This lesson explores how educators can reflect on and cultivate practices to build cultural understanding and culturally competent approaches to working with children and families. (2 hours)
Many children who have a parent serving in the military live through the experience of having that parent leave on deployment. The months leading up to the parent’s departure and the often lengthy time that the parent is away are difficult times for the whole family. In this lesson, providers will learn about these two uniquely difficult experiences from children’s perspectives, and how to provide support to children in the child care environment. (2 hours)
Engaged families, when families and their children’s early programs develop an ongoing partnership to promote children’s healthy development and learning, is a major ingredient of children’s positive academic outcomes. Learn what program and family factors to consider as families engage with the program, different ways to engage families in children’s learning, and how to build partnerships with families. (2 hours)
Los niños que experimentan experiencias adversas en la infancia (EAI) enfrentan un mayor riesgo de problemas de salud social-emocional, física y mental. Las EAI incluyen abuso, negligencia, pobreza y otras experiencias traumáticas encontradas antes de los dieciocho años de edad. Este curso promueve la sensibilización y la comprensión del trauma en los niños pequeños y las familias y analiza el papel de los profesionales de atención temprana y educación en la construcción de la resiliencia en los niños y las familias a su cargo que experimentan EAI. (2 horas)
Family child care programs are in a unique position to support quality family engagement practices that contribute to positive outcomes for children and families. Strong family engagement is critical, not supplemental, in promoting children’s healthy development, learning, and wellness. Learn how to build positive partnerships with families, work through challenges to family engagement, and improve the quality of care for children and families in your family child care program. (2 hours)
Foster and adopted children have experienced some form of trauma even if it has occurred prenatally. As a result, foster and adoptive families may face a variety of challenges related to these early adverse experiences including the transition into their foster or adoptive families. Early care and education professionals who care for these children are an important resource for support and stability. This module provides information for awareness and strategies to strengthen assistance for families who have foster or adopted children in child care. (2 hours)
A young child’s identity and sense of self are tied to his family. Children thrive when child care professionals and families partner to support each child. This lesson describes the developmental stages of families and how those stages coincide with a child’s development. Learn how to build relationships, to create partnerships with families, and assess current practices to improve the quality of care for infants and toddlers. (2 hours)
Sketching exercises hone observation skills, skills much-needed during the care day. This course offers refreshing deep noticing experiences. The goal is NOT to train an artist but to enhance an educator's ability to observe and document their world. Included tools and strategies support opportunities for adults and a parallel practice with toddlers through teens. Nature sketching meets a wide range of learning standards. As nature observation skills are refined, child observation skills are positively transformed.
La observación y la evaluación centradas en la equidad son esenciales para comprender y apoyar el progreso del desarrollo de los niños y para informar las decisiones sobre prácticas de enseñanza efectivas. Este curso explora los procesos multidimensionales de observación y evaluación que son imparciales, culturalmente receptivos, lingüísticamente y con capacidades diversas, y que valoran los sistemas colaborativos de apoyo. (2 horas)
Observation and assessment focused on equity is integral to understanding and supporting children's developmental progress and informing decisions about effective teaching practices. This course explores multidimensional observation and assessment processes that are anti-biased, culturally responsive, linguistically and ability diverse, and that value collaborative systems of support. (2 hours)
Families are essential partners in their children’s preschool experience. Positive home and school connections support children's learning and development. This lesson describes the developmental stages of families and how those stages coincide with children’s development. Learn how to build relationships and create partnerships with families, and ways to assess current practices in partnering with families to improve the quality of care for preschoolers. (2 hours)
Administrators of out-of-school and after school programs for children and youth ages 5-18 are responsible for creating a welcoming and inclusive atmosphere that embraces all families. Administrators work with staff to create the policies and practices that bring this vision into daily reality. They prioritize and work together with local schools to support the development of cognitive and social-emotional skills. Administrators also cultivate community partnerships to produce mutual benefits. (2 hours)
Deployment is a difficult time of separation for military families. A sudden and prolonged absence of a parent is very difficult for every family member. Upon the service member's return, the reintegration, or transition from battlefront to home, is a long, complex emotional process for children and parents. Although the majority of the adjustment will take place at home, there are several ways that child care providers can support both child and parent as the get to know one another again. (2 hours)
Los servicios basados en la comunidad proporcionan a las familias y a los niños los recursos e información necesarios. (2 horas)
Social-emotional learning offers a platform for growing equitable educational communities with children and families. ECE professionals who value diversity, inclusion, elevated voice, and who enhance their own practice build more equitable classroom cultures. Through a continuous process of meaningful self-reflection and engagement, ECE professionals support a foundation for equitable practice related to access of opportunity, resources, and enhanced relationships with children and families. (4 hours)
Aprenda maneras de lograr que los niños sean más solidarios en sus comportamientos para crear una comunidad en el aula en la cual los niños se apoyan entre sí. Aprenda a utilizar juegos no competitivos para fomentar la aceptación de todos los niños. Aprenda a identificar las fortalezas y las debilidades, tanto las suyas como las de los niños en su programa, y cómo poner los puntos fuertes de todos a un buen uso para crear un sentido de aceptación y de comunidad. (2 horas)
Children experience multiple transitions in child care—not just moving from one activity to another, but also moving from one classroom, program, or group to another. They move from home to child care, from infant care to toddler care, from preschool to kindergarten, or they may leave a program. Learn how professionals and programs, in collaborations with families and other providers, can use evidence-informed strategies to ensure quality, responsive transition services. (2 hours)
Although the number of young children who live in poverty decreased slightly in 2014, research shows that one in five children under the age of five lives in poverty and one in nine lives in extreme poverty. Awareness of issues related to poverty and use of effective communication strategies are essential for early care and education professionals to be able to build relationships with families and connect them to the supports they need. This module focuses on understanding poverty and practical strategies that can improve communication with families living in poverty. (2 hours)
